King Charles and Queen Camilla attend ball to mark 20th anniversary of conservation

Animal masks in hand, the King and Queen led the festivities at a conservation charity ball tonight. 

Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, appeared in great spirits at the party at Lancaster House to mark the 20th anniversary of wildlife conservation charity Elephant Family, which was established in 2003 by Her Majesty’s late brother Mark Shand.

This year’s annual Animal Ball is a celebration of indigenous communities, hosted by the Elephant Family in partnership with the British Asian Trust. 

At the London event, the King and Queen, dressed in a custom Anna Valentine, presented two Elephant Family awards – the Mark Shand Award and the Tara Award – to recognise contributions to protecting Asian wildlife. 

On arrival in the garden at Lancaster House, Their Majesties were met by Ruth Ganesh, co-founder of the Elephant Family, and Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust. 

Many well-heeled guests joined the royal couple at the glitzy event, including  Christian Louboutin, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sir Brian May, his wife Anita Dobson, Donna Air, Keely Hawes, Emma Weymouth and Gwendoline Christie.

The garden at Lancaster House was decorated with the charity’s Lanterna Elephant sculptures, which were part of the ‘Co-Existence’ exhibition across the Royal Parks in 2021. 

Amongst the Lanterna Elephant sculptures, the King and Queen met the night’s award winners, which included members of the Adivasi tribal community from the Nilgiri Mountains, India. 

The community received the Elephant Family’s Mark Shand Award for 2023 from the Queen. The King and Queen also met Oscar-winning Indian documentary-maker, Kartiki Gonsalves, who received the newly created Tara Award from His Majesty. 

The Tara Award is named after Mark Shand’s elephant, who first inspired the establishment of the Elephant Family. 

After meeting the charity’s supporters and performers at the Animal Ball, the King and Queen proceeded to a marquee for the award presentations. 

During the presentation, Their Majesties listened to a series of musical performances from the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and singer-songwriter Tom Odell.

The King urged people to ‘pay attention’ to indigenous communities ‘before it’s too late’ during an impromptu speech after presenting a conservation award at the ball.

He said: ‘I think it’s over 35 years ago now that I tried to see if I could set up a project to collate as much of the indigenous knowledge and wisdom as possible throughout the world. But in those days, nobody wanted to know.

‘But now if I may say so, it is absolutely critical that we turn to all that indigenous knowledge and wisdom as the only way really of restoring the balance and harmony that is so badly needed in this world if we are going to save the planet.

‘So it’s up to all of us to pay attention to that knowledge and that wisdom before it’s too late.’

The King told a star-studded audience of around 300 guests: ‘Both my wife and I [are] so very proud to be able to present both these awards particularly, if I may say so, it transpires that today is actually Mark Shand’s birthday.

‘And he would have been so thrilled to know that Elephant Family had managed to get its 20th anniversary.’

On what would have been Mark Shand’s 72 birthday, the monarch had presented Oscar-winning Indian filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves with the Tara Award – named after the elephant which inspired him to set up the charity in 2003.

Her documentary film The Elephant Whisperers won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in February – the first Indian-produced film to win the accolade.

This year’s colourful event, which was jointly hosted by Elephant Family and the British Asian Trust, drew a line up of famous faces including Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen, Jilly Cooper, Christian Louboutin, Emma Weymouth and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadim Zahawi.

The King and Queen also met former Towie star Gemma Collins, who is a supporter of Elephant Family.

The Queen looked elegant in a blue embroidered tunic top with blue palazzo chiffon trousers by Anna Valentine and diamond earrings by Van Cleef and Arpels. 

She and the King were presented with Shola masks by renowned Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, carved from sholapith, a sustainable type of cork grown in the marshlands of Bengal.

The royal couple posed for photographs surrounded by lifesize elephant sculptures made from Lantana, an invasive weed that impacts human and animal habitats in India, and which were part of the charity’s 2021 Co-Existence exhibition across the Royal Parks.

Some of the 125 elephant sculptures from its 2021 exhibition are now permanently displayed in the gardens of their Majesties’ private homes at Highgrove and Raymill – and two are owned by Gemma Collins.

‘They are absolutely beautiful,’ she told the Queen. ‘What I love about them is the way the eyes move with you in the garden.’

Her Majesty complimented the TV star on her eye-catching headwear – a headband with a shiny cherry and caterpillar on top.

‘I’m just so happy to be here and share this evening with you,’ Gemma told her.

Turning to the King, Gemma said: ‘You really are King of the planet and we love you for what you do for the animals. Please keep getting that message out there, it means so much.’

The King and Queen have long supported the Elephant Family, from visiting the charity’s projects whilst on overseas visits as The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, to supporting initiatives such as The Big Egg Hunt and the CoExistence campaign, which saw 125 life-size elephant sculptures displayed in London’s Royal Parks throughout summer 2021. 

Some of the Lanterna Elephant sculptures that formed part of the exhibition now live permanently in the gardens at Highgrove and Raymill.

Elephant Family is a wildlife conservation charity committed to building landscapes that support coexistence between humans and wildlife. 

The charity supports a wide range of projects that find ways for humans and animals to live closer together – from securing a network of wildlife corridors which act as bridges between islands of forests, to relocating busy highways that slice through primary forest. 

The organisation was founded in 2003 by the late Mark Shand, who died in 2014. He was deeply passionate about protecting and supporting elephants and Asian wildlife.

In 2020, Elephant Family joined forces with the British Asian Trust in a new philanthropic partnership dedicated to supporting Asia’s wildlife. 

The alliance brings together the best minds in conservation, management and philanthropy to respond urgently to the growing human-wildlife conflict crisis and the loss of habitat threatening Asia’s elephants, big cats and the rural communities who live alongside them. 

By combining expertise, the charities are accelerating their response and scale their impact on both. 

As The Prince of Wales, The King founded the British Asian Trust in 2007 alongside British Asian business leaders. The charity works to reduce poverty and disadvantage for communities in South Asia. 

This includes work in areas of anti-trafficking, education, livelihoods, mental health and conservation. 

Speaking after her meeting with the King and Queen, Gemma said: ‘It is an absolute honour to be here this evening. To actually get the royal invitation from the King and the Queen to personally meet me and to be recognised for my love of animals and conservation.

‘And King Charles is the king of the planet. All the youngsters need to know that if we do not start looking after animals and having respect for animals and stopping this abhorrent cruelty that is going on on a daily basis, they will not be able to show their children animals in the future, they will become extinct.

‘In this decade, there should not be anyone that shows any cruelty to another living being and this is why King Charles and Camilla are close to my heart. And I’m just so fascinated with all the good work that they do for conservation.

‘Her [Camilla’s] brother Mark Shand… what he did was insane. And I just find with a lot of youngsters today, it’s not about TikTok, come off TikTok, come off of Instagram. Let’s get connected with the animals and let’s all coexist. Let’s get a grip and save these beautiful creatures that give us so much enjoyment.

‘And King Charles and Camilla… I’m really hoping… I’m looking to make a documentary to make the youngsters aware. I’m really hoping they’ll get on board. I mean, me and King Charles and Camilla on Safari would be amazing.

‘We would have so much fun and you know, it doesn’t matter what background [you’re from] and this is why I love King Charles and Camilla… because they literally have taken me close to them. To invite me here has just meant so much to me.

‘I’ve got two of the elephants in my garden. And do you know what, I wake up every morning and they give me so much joy. And it’s just a message we need to get out there for once and for all.

‘We are not to kill or hurt our animals. We are to support them and be the voice for them and that’s why the King and Queen are way up there for me.

‘He’s King of the Planet. These occasions, yes they are for well-to-do people, but it goes beyond that. Everyone can show compassion to an animal.

‘People are not getting the message. It’s not about eyelashes, hair, what car you’re driving, if you’ve got a Rolex watch, that is so boring. 

‘What have you done today to help an animal? What have you done to minimise your carbon footprint for the planet? What message if you’ve given to someone today? It’s all got lost, it’s all gone crazy. People have got to take it back and get serious because… a lot of these animals aren’t going to be around much longer.’

She said of the King: ‘He’s got such personality. And he really can resonate with them and if we get all these youngsters behind it, big amazing things can happen.’